Father Material
by ImJudyGarland
Summary: NIck/Jess one shot. Please humor me about the age discrepancy with Sadie's daughter, she's probably still a baby on the show right now. Thanks to Mayalala for the suggestions.


"Hi."

"Uh, hi..." Nick answered her, immediately uncomfortable with the situation.

A little girl with blonde ponytails and a pink polka-dotted dress sat down next to him on the couch. He shifted nervously and moved slightly to the right, closer to the side. She scooted over towards him, swinging her legs back and forth over the edge.

"What's your name?" He looked back over at her. He paused for a moment before he answered, "Nick," in what he hoped was a tone of finality. You asked my name. You know my name now. We done here?

"I'm Emma," she said in a soft, shy voice. She smiled up at him, deep dimples appearing in her chubby cheeks. Damn it. She's cute. How was he always winding up at the mercy of adorable females? Younger and older, apparently.

Nick and Jess were at Sadie's daughter's birthday party. Jess was standing off to the side with Sadie laughing and talking. Nick had been sitting alone on the couch, wondering how he had gotten himself into this. He was literally the only man there. Loud, squealing children were running around in the confined space of Sadie's apartment. One or two of the mother's, who seemed to have had too much to drink, had zoned in on his bartender vibe, and were eyeballing him. Sheesh, this is a kids party, he thought. You'd think they'd at least try to go easy on the alcohol. There were always women at the bar where he worked who would temporarily lower their standards and settle for the bartender. Mostly just because they were drunk, it was closing time and they didn't want to be alone. And now this little kid sat next to him. Great, could things get any more awkward?

Two days before, Nick had initially protested. Too much estrogen in one place. "Come on Nick, it'll be fun!" It was Nick's night to pick something for dinner, and they had just finished a last minute SpaghettiO's/Doritos combo meal. Jess moved from the table and put her arms around his waist from behind, resting her head on his back. She hummed softly against him, knowing what it did to him. "Remember last night...when we were alone? You said there was nothing you wouldn't do for me? Well, I am fully prepared to reciprocate. You have an itch..." she slowly slid herself around to the front of him and stood up higher til her mouth was next to his ear and whispered, "I scratch it."

Nick had paused for a moment, dazed, considering what she was offering him. Then he shook his head, snapping back into his senses. "No Jess! Come on. Do you honestly think a kid's birthday party is the best place for me to be?"

"It's only for a couple of hours. Three tops. We're a couple Nick, and this is what couples do. They have each other's back. Did I not sit with you that entire afternoon at that crappy bar, because you thought Aaron Paul hung out there?"

"I swear, I saw it on the AMC message boards! That's his LA hangout when the show has wrapped!" Jess had put up with his Breaking Bad obsession, even kind of getting into the show herself at his urging. But she drew the line when he wanted to shave his head and wear a Heisenberg hat. "No porkie pies!" she had yelled back at him.

"Listen Nick, you do this for me, I give you a free pass to turn me down cold the next time I suggest something you don't wanna do. No pressure and no arguments. And my original offer of itch scratching still stands. Whaddya say?"

Jess hooked her arms around him and looked up hopefully into his face. His resolve crumbled. "Alright, you win." Who was he kidding? One look into her soft blue eyes, and he knew that 9 times out of 10, he was gonna give in where she was concerned.

Now he sat in Sadie's apartment, next to a little girl who had somehow found his grinch-style attitude interesting. He sighed heavily, seriously regretting not chosing the "1 time" this time around.

Emma scooted over closer to Nick and looked up into his half-scowl. "Do you like Spongebob?" He turned his head halfway around to her. "Uh, yeah. Actually I do."

There was another television choice that Jess just couldn't understand. "Jess it's hilarious. And he lives in a town called Bikini Bottom. That's enough reason to watch right there."

Unintimidated by Nick's grumpy exterior, Emma just kept on talking. "I like Squidward. He's funny. He yells a lot but I think he's really a pretty nice fish." She giggled and he couldn't help but laugh along with her. "So, why aren't you playing with the other kids?" She looked down at her feet and shrugged her shoulders. "Big people are more fun sometimes. You wanna color?" She hopped down off the couch and sat in front of the coffee table. She grabbed a red crayon and started coloring a Little Mermaid coloring book page.

He leaned over and watched as she carefully colored inside the lines. "Hey, you're pretty good at that. Don't forget to color the background blue for the water." She reached over and grabbed the crayon box, pulling a blue crayon out and handing it to Nick. "Ok. You do the water, and I'll do her hair and fins." Nick paused for a minute. When he was young, he had always hated it when kids only colored in certain parts of a coloring page, completely ignoring the background. You're gonna color a truck, you color the road black and the sky blue around it. It was about commitment! Yeah, these were his thoughts as an 7 year old.

He kneeled down in front of the coffee table. Taking the blue crayon from her, he started at the top of the page and filled in the blue sky. Her face was serious as she finished the Little Mermaid, and started coloring in Sebastian. He smiled at her quiet determination.

When every section of the page had been colored in, they put the crayons back in the box. They both stood up. She held the page up to Nick's face. "How's it look?" she asked him expectantly. He took the page from her and admired their work. "Not bad. Actually it's pretty dam...uh...pretty darn good." She beamed up at him and quickly hugged his legs.

Melissa came out of the kitchen and yelled, "Ok guys, cake time!" All the kids ran squealing into the kitchen. "Bye Nick!" Emma shouted, as she ran off after them. Nick laughed to himself. Nice kid. Sweet. Mad skills with a Crayola too. He had to admire that.

Nick and Sadie stood off to the side. They had been watching them the whole time. Jess hugged herself and bit her lip. "That just may have been the most adorable thing I've ever seen," she said softly.

"That was really sweet," Sadie agreed. "Pay attention, Jess. That man there is raw but definite father material."

Later that night, Jess stood next to Nick in the bathroom, both brushing their teeth. She swished her mouth out then slid over to him. "So, that wasn't too terrible today, was it?" Nick spit in the sink and looked at her sideways. "Yeah, it was actually not a bad afternoon. Cake was good. Hung out with a cool kid. It was a good day."

"I've never seen you around kids before. It was nice. Very nice actually." She moved in front of him and pressed herself up against him, sliding her hands around to squeeze his ass cheeks. Surprised, he looked down at her with wide eyes and laughed. He ran his hands up through her dark hair. "So, that's what does it for ya, huh?" He moved one hand to her face and stroked her cheek gently. "Mmhmm," she trailed off as his lips brushed hers. Things began to escalate. Her mouth on his more urgent. He matched her passion, crashing his lips onto hers forcefully. "Feeling itchy, Nick?" she whispered against his mouth. Suddenly he picked her up and walk-ran to his bedroom. He knew a ready, willing woman when he saw one.

Later, they lay next to each other on Nick's bed, catching their breath. He glanced over at her and laughed. She giggled back at him. Jess turned on her side toward him, and he did the same. Leaning on his arm, he stared into her sparkly eyes. He loved that he could make that happen. "Hey Nick. Can I ask you something? And don't freak out. It's just a question. Strictly hypothetical." She bit her lip and waited for confirmation from him. He let out a small satisfied sigh. "Ask me anything Jess. You don't have to be so serious. Shoot."

She held his easy gaze a few moments. "Would you ever want to have kids?"

Nick's eyes bugged out of his head and he shot straight up in bed. "OH MAN! You're pregnant aren't you? I can't believe this! How did this happen? We are so careful! Well, most of the time anyway...Did Schmidt steal your birth control wheel thingee again? I knew he couldn't stop interfering! He's kicking in for child support, this is his doing!"

"NICK! Nick, relax! I am not pregnant. I am NOT pregnant. Ok? Just calm down." Wow, she knew he might get nervous at her question. But she didn't think he'd go that bananas over the prospect of a baby happening. Nick slowly laid back down on his side and looked at her cautiously. "Ok...Ok. Sorry." He took deep a few deep breaths. "That was overly dramatic, I know. I'm sorry."

Jess had to work hard not to read anything into his severe response. She just looked at him and stayed quiet, waiting for him to speak again. "It's not that I don't want kids, Jess. I do. That was just a knee-jerk reaction. Really, I do want kids one day." Jess let herself relax a little and kept looking into his eyes. She saw sincerity there. She knew he wouldn't say it if he didn't really mean it.

"I just...Nick, I know you and me are just getting started. But I feel like we are sort of already ahead of the game. We've been close friends, living together for two years. It's natural that we are a few levels up in the relationship game already." He quietly nodded, agreeing with her. "I just need to know that, if things with us go well, that's it's not out of the question."

Nick put his hands on her waist and pulled her close to him. She laid her head on his chest and waited. "Not out of the question. It's not even a question. I want kids someday." He smiled against her hair. "And if, someday, a little girl with dark hair and bright blue eyes were to call me Daddy...well, I would be good with that. Someday."

Jess let a slow smile take over her face, evolving into a wide grin. "And if, one day, a little boy with crazy brown hair and a sweet little turtle mouth called me mom...that would be nice too. One day."

They both started to drift off to sleep. Nick smiled to himself, thinking about the folded page in his jeans pocket. Jess thought about Nick, sitting on the floor, coloring the Little Mermaid with a little blonde girl. _Father material? Definitely._


End file.
